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News for November 2004
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 29 November 2004 |
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| How To Include The Poor by Kirsten Anderberg |
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In How To Include The Poor, Kirsten Anderberg proposes five rules that could help make organizations more economically accessible: (1) All organizing meetings and events need to take place on bus lines. (2) Do not have meetings and events at restaurants. (3) Events must be kid-friendly or have childcare on premises. (4) Do not collect membership fees. (5) Don't set up an exclusive admission system and then make exceptions based on income. Charity is not dignity.
Posted: 11/29/04; 10:44:49 AM # |
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24 November 2004 |
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| Everyday Software: Workshop Webcasting |
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We just finished our first series of online workshops, which required coming up to speed in a whole new category of technology for us. In our latest feature article on Everday Software, I describe how we webcast the workshop. Although we used commercial tools in a couple of cases, the entire workflow can be done with free or open source software.
Posted: 11/24/04; 7:32:04 PM # |
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22 November 2004 |
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| Patriot Act case against volunteer Muslim webmaster |
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The only person so far that has been prosecuted under an overly broad Patriot Act provision for providing "expert advice or assistance" is a Muslim volunteer webmaster from Boise, Idaho. He was just acquitted by a jury which thankfully did not believe that being the webmaster for a charity that had hostile speech written by others was any sort of crime. This is also the only case involving the use of the Internet to support terrorism.
Posted: 11/22/04; 9:32:22 AM # |
| New Tactics in Human Rights |
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I'm very interested in models for supporting innovation in the social sector and encouraging the spread of new ideas. The Center for Victims of Torture have developed an idea exchange database as part of their New Tactics in Human Rights project. You can browse the database and search by keyword, but most importantly, you can contribute to the spread of new tactics by adding to the database.
Posted: 11/22/04; 9:32:14 AM # |
| New Tactics Workbook |
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The New Tactics Workbook is a fantastic resource for people working on human rights issues. It's available as a collection of PDF documents on topics such as Remembering Abuses and Removing Opportunities for Abuse, as well as topics of interest to nonprofits in general, such as Strengthening Individuals and Communities and Collaboration. I highly recommend this material, but unless I'm mistaken, their download method will prove very frustrating.
Posted: 11/22/04; 9:32:06 AM # |
| Gifting technologies |
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One of the things I focus on when I consult about knowledge management is how to support the production of knowledge by making it easy for people to share what they know, rather than focusing on just making it easy to be a knowledge consumer. So, I was very pleased to read Kevin McGee and Jörgen Skågeby's paper on Gifting Technologies at First Monday. They are asking the very important questions: What needs and concerns do gifters have and what technologies can be developed to help them?
Posted: 11/22/04; 9:31:47 AM # |
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19 November 2004 |
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| The Five Life Stages of Nonprofit Organizations |
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I just finished reading Judith Sharken Simon's The Five Life Stages of Nonprofit Organizations, published by the Amherst H. Wilder Foundation. The five stages she lays out are (1) Imagine and Inspire, (2) Found and Frame, (3) Ground and Grow, (4) Produce and Sustain, and (5) Review and Renew. Creating a taxonomy of stages like this is by its nature a process of digesting anecdotes and can't be very scientific, but I still think this sort of thing is important. Anything that contributes to normalizing the transitions that nonprofits go through is invaluable and this book does so brilliantly.
Posted: 11/19/04; 4:49:16 PM # |
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17 November 2004 |
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15 November 2004 |
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| Stockholm Challenge 2006 |
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The Stockholm Challenge is open for nominations for it's 2006 award. They are looking for the "best initiatives that accelerate the use of information technology for the social and economic benefit of citizens and communities". In the past, they have awarded prizes to innovative initiatives that address the digital divide.
Posted: 11/15/04; 1:18:28 PM # |
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12 November 2004 |
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| Greendisk |
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If you're sitting on a bunch of old disks, printer cartridges, and the like, you might want to check out Greendisk. It's a computer waste recycling company with some clever ideas. Take a look at their Technotrash Can program.
Posted: 11/12/04; 11:48:43 AM # |
| CORDIS: European Research and Innovation Portal |
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The European Union has a research and innovation portal called CORDIS, which maintains a vast database of research and articles on fostering innovation. In reading some of them, I was continually struck by how their role could be a model for a similar initiative to foster innovation in the nonprofit sector in the United States. Our community could benefit from many of the same objectives, such as fostering a culture of innovation or encouraging the rapid sharing of new learning.
Posted: 11/12/04; 11:48:15 AM # |
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11 November 2004 |
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9 November 2004 |
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| Election result maps |
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I'm not yet ready to comment in any depth on the meaning of the recent election to the sector. But the election does present an opportunity to demonstrate the power of mapping when it comes to describing communication. No doubt you have seen some of the alternatives to the traditional red and blue map of the United States and its electoral votes. Gastner, Shalizi, and Newman of the University of Michigan have prepared one of my favorite visualizations of the election. An election is, after all, an act of mass communication. By doing two things -- showing the election results in gradations of color and changing the size of the sates to reflect their population -- this map achieves a genuinely communication centered, rather than infrastructure centered, presentation.
Posted: 11/9/04; 5:05:24 PM # |
| Asia Source |
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Mahiti.org and the Tactical Technology Collective are organizing Asia Source, a gathering of nearly 100 NGOs and technology support professionals for a week long workshop to increase the use of free and open source software for use by the voluntary sector in South and Southeast Asia. The event will be held from January 28th - February 4th 2005, in Bangalore, India. I think this could be a very powerful organizing model. Applications are being accepted until November 19.
Posted: 11/9/04; 4:44:56 PM # |
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8 November 2004 |
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| Social Edge - Moving Beyond "Digital" Divides |
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Rinalia Abdul Rahim offers Eight Key Policy Recommendations for Moving Beyond "Digital" Divides: 1. Integrate ICT into development initiatives. 2. Address sustainability right from the start. 3. Set targets for scalability. 4. Develop a strong human resource base and focus on inclusion. 5. Lead through example. 6. Forge a range of multi-stakeholder alliances. 7. Obtain clear commitment from Official Development Agencies. 8. Promote corporate social responsibility and private sector involvement.
Posted: 11/8/04; 1:23:03 PM # |
| DotOrg Media : Issue#12: Open Surce Survey Results |
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In the latest issue of the DotOrg Media newsletter, Michelle Murrain and Katrin Verclas present the results of their nonprofit Open Source Survey. I'm pleased that they don't try to give the results any statistical validity and that they chose to highlight examples of open source applications and the organizations making use of them. This should encourage a nice kind of peer support.
Posted: 11/8/04; 1:21:16 PM # |
| Global Ideas Bank |
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The Global Ideas Bank encourages and documents innovative social change and social service ideas. I understand that they just completed a huge brainstorming session last week, scheduled to coincide with the U.S. elections.
Posted: 11/8/04; 1:19:46 PM # |
| Community Arts Network: Working Methods |
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The Community Arts Network maintains a small but pithy annotated list of Working Methods, including such topics as documenting events, art for community change, using Open Space tools for arts conferences, and survival skills for artists working in community organizations.
Posted: 11/8/04; 12:59:23 PM # |
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7 November 2004 |
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| Arundhati Roy Sydney Peace Prize Speech |
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Please take five minutes and read Arundhati Roy's acceptance speech for Sydney Peace Prize. Beyond her biting analysis of the new world order, there are three parts that seemed of particular relevance to nonprofits. (1) The role of human rights NGOs is problematic. "Many resistance movements in poor countries which are fighting huge injustice and questioning the underlying principles of what constitutes 'liberation' and 'development', view Human Rights NGOs as modern day missionaries who've come to take the ugly edge off Imperialism. To defuse political anger and to maintain the status quo." (2) Resistance must not be allowed to be equated with terrorism. "It falls to those of us living outside Iraq to create that mass-based, secular and non-violent resistance to the US occupation." (3) We need strategies that target the centers of power, rather than just make us feel good. "The bad news is that colorful demonstrations, weekend marches and annual trips to the World Social Forum are not enough. There have to be targeted acts of real civil disobedience with real consequences."
Posted: 11/7/04; 12:10:46 PM # |
| Google Censors Abu Ghraib Images |
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In a deeply disturbing bit of post election news, it's possible that Google is censoring Abu Ghraib images. If we want a world where those in power can be held accountable, we need access to information about their actions. I hope this is unfounded. It turns out that it is. I am grateful.
Posted: 11/7/04; 12:05:35 PM # |
| Gov track |
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Although the U.S. Congress is out of session until January, if your organization is in any way involved in legislative issues, you might benefit from checking out GovTrack. Data about members of congress, bills, votes, and so forth are tracked in a variety of interesting ways, and all the data is available in open format XML, so you can easily integrate this into your activist tools.
Posted: 11/7/04; 12:02:05 PM # |
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4 November 2004 |
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| Non-profit resources at the Auraria library |
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I just recently discovered the annotated nonprofit resources at the Auraria Library. It's a remarkably thoughtful guide to resources for finding information on nonprofit organizations, sectors, and business practices available in Auraria Library and on the Internet. It also has some nice research tips sprinkled throughout.
Posted: 11/4/04; 1:08:46 PM # |
| What Is My Collective IQ? |
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A large part of my professional work is related to the concept of "collective intelligence", the ways in which a group can build its own knowledge and be smarter than its individual members. George Por has written up a thought provoking six part model of collective intelligence that I think can help us all break down a complex challenge into some clear parts. His six "poles" are: intentions, reflections, competences, recorded memory, trusted relationships, and enabling technologies.
Posted: 11/4/04; 1:02:23 PM # |
| We were made for these times |
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Although they were written in 2003, these Words of encouragement from Clarissa Pinkola Estes are a kind and grounded call to all of us to shine our light in the coming storm: "One of the most calming and powerful actions you can do to intervene in a stormy world is to stand up and show your soul. Soul on deck shines like gold in dark times. The light of the soul throws sparks, can send up flares, builds signal fires ... causes proper matters to catch fire." Some of you may enjoy her words.
Posted: 11/4/04; 12:41:22 PM # |
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3 November 2004 |
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| Announcing: Nonprofit Online News Journal - October 2004 |
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Today we are announcing the first issue of the new monthly Nonprofit Online News Journal. In these pages you'll find all of the resources and articles from October 2004, as well as classified ads, and a Letter from the Editor. We're likely to add other content over time, if the PDF Journal format proves popular. We may charge for these in the future, but not yet. Today we are offering you a free copy of the first issue. Download your free copy of the October 2004 (PDF) Journal now! We also welcome any feedback you have for us about it.
Posted: 11/3/04; 12:58:52 PM # |
| Beyond Voting |
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The Beyond Voting project is tracking and promoting grassroots responses to yesterday's U.S. election. Personally, I would enjoy gathering with others who are disturbed by the results, but I'm not in the least bit interested in a typical protest today. I need honest grieving, anger, and the companionship of others, but not a march or a rally or chanted slogans.
Posted: 11/3/04; 11:37:54 AM # |
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2 November 2004 |
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| This Time We're Watching |
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The Truth Force Training Center, the League of Pissed Off Voters and The Ruckus Society have banded together to form the This Time We're Watching project, to mobilize citizens to prevent a stolen election in the United States.
Posted: 11/2/04; 8:48:39 AM # |
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1 November 2004 |
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| Voter Protection Center |
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The Voter Protection Center is a nonprofit project that's trying to maintain the integrity of the U.S. election. If you're looking for something to help with on election day, you could do much worse than using these tools.
Posted: 11/1/04; 1:30:11 PM # |
| NAACP Faces IRS Investigation |
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The NAACP is facing an IRS Investigation because Julian Bond, the Chairman of the organization, publicly critized George Bush. There is no evidence of the NAACP engaging in any prohibited electoral work. If you think that tomorrow's election doesn't matter to nonprofits, think again.
Posted: 11/1/04; 1:16:30 PM # |
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